


The Final Year of the Hundred-Year War, Book 1: Water

by SailorHaumea



Series: The Final Year of the Hundred-Year War [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: 100 Year War (Avatar TV), Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And the Gaang left an apology note for her parents, Characters may be a bit OOC, Gen, Jet (Avatar) Is An Asshole, Not Beta Read, Order of the White Lotus, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Precognition, Toph joined early, Which has Toph's "signature" on it, Which is just a bunch of scribbles, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, Zuko joined early too
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:54:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 15,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22202926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorHaumea/pseuds/SailorHaumea
Summary: Avatar Aang awakens to a different world than he does in canon. The Order of the White Lotus has been guided to prepare for Aang's arrival by a shadowy figure who seems to know the future. And Zuko isn't following the Avatar and his friends around. Unfortunately, Zhao has filled this void.DISCONTINUED - may be reworked into something else, but I don't like the way this story is going anymore.
Series: The Final Year of the Hundred-Year War [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1624009
Comments: 2
Kudos: 99





	1. Kyoshi Island

In one world, when Avatar Aang awoke at the South Pole after being frozen in an iceberg for a hundred years, he and his new friends Sokka and Katara were pursued every step of the way on their journey to the North Pole by the banished Prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko, who clung to this mission in the vain belief that if he actually achieved this task given to him by his father, he would be welcomed home with open arms.

But this is not that world. Our story takes place in a different one, one where Zuko understood early on that the mission he had been given was intended to be a fool's errand, that his father didn't want him home.

So Aang, Katara, and Sokka are not hounded as they leave the South Pole. Their travels are, with the exception of Aang going into the Avatar State at the Southern Air Temple, not marked with difficulty.

That is, until they reach Kyoshi Island.

* * *

The three of them were forced into the dojo rather unceremoniously, where they were greeted by a young woman who had brown hair tied into a braid, brown eyes, and a katana at her waist.

"Hello, Avatar Aang," she greeted, bowing respectfully as she did so. Then she turned to Katara. "It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Katara." She bowed again. "And you as well, Sokka," she finished, bowing to him as well.

"How do you know our names?" Katara asked in surprise.

"Allow me to start from the beginning. My name is Usagi," the woman began. "For the past three years, I have been preparing for the Avatar's return, because of the fact that I have come into knowledge of what the future holds."

Sokka didn't believe her. "You sound like a fortuneteller."

Usagi had an aghast expression on her face. "Sokka, I do not sit around and give vague and useless predictions to people to tell them what they want to hear! My knowledge is useful, it is detailed, it is _accurate._ "

Aang was much more trusting. "I believe her," he offered cheerfully.

Usagi smiled. "I hope you enjoy your stay on Kyoshi Island. Of course, you cannot stay here forever, but you can afford to rest a few days."

* * *

Despite Aang's proclamation that he was "just a simple monk," it quickly became apparent that he let the fact that a group of screaming fangirls followed him around go to his head.

Meanwhile, Sokka got a much-needed lesson in humility from the Kyoshi Warriors, and their leader, Suki.

Aang had the incredibly foolish idea of trying to ride the Unagi. Katara wound up having to rescue him from the creature.

And that's when, because the universe apparently had it out for Aang today, a Fire Navy ship arrived at Kyoshi Island's shores.

The ship's ramp lowered, and three komodo-rhinos ride out, ridden by two soldiers and their leader, a man with very distinctive sideburns.

"Find the Avatar, and bring him to me alive!" the leader shouted.

The three set off towards the village.

Meanwhile, Katara bended the water out of Aang's lungs, and he woke up, coughing and gasping.

"Come on, we have to get back to the village! The Fire Nation is here!" Katara informed Aang.

Aang hopped to his feet, and they took off towards the village.

* * *

Usagi stared down the Fire Nation intruders. "Commander Zhao," she snarled.

The man with the sideburns smiled. "So news of my promotion has even reached Kyoshi Island, it seems."

"An undeserved promotion. The pretender who sits in Caldera rewards groveling."

Aang and Katara arrived at that moment, as did Sokka and the Kyoshi Warriors.

"Looks like our conversation bought some much-needed time," Usagi grinned.

* * *

Aang was a very evasive fighter. Unfortunately, this resulted in much of the village being set on fire as he dodged Zhao's attacks.

It quickly became apparent that the only way to ensure the safety of Kyoshi Island was to leave and hope Zhao would follow them.

"We have to go," Aang explained, landing in front of Usagi.

Usagi nodded. "I know. Zhao is relentless. Your next destination should be Gaoling. The greatest earthbender in the world can be found there." She said the last sentence with a smile on her face.

* * *

Suki and Sokka had ducked behind a building momentarily to avoid an attack.

"There's no time to say goodbye," Suki stated sadly.

"What about 'I'm sorry?'" Sokka offered.

Suki looked surprised. "For what?"

Sokka got a regretful look on his face. "I treated you like a girl when I should have treated you like a warrior. 

"I am a warrior," Suki agreed. And then she kissed him on the cheek. Sokka blushed. "But I'm a girl, too." She got to her feet. "Now get out of here! We'll hold them off!"

Sokka ran to Appa and climbed aboard the saddle to join Aang and Katara. Aang yanked on the reins and said the usual "Yip, yip," prompting Appa to lift off the ground.

* * *

Zhao and his forces did indeed retreat to follow them. Aang had the incredibly risky idea to jump off of Appa, get on the Unagi, and use its water breath to put out the fires. The plan worked, and he proceeded to rejoin Katara and Sokka aboard Appa afterwards. Katara hugged him for this.

"So what now?" Katara asked.

"Usagi said we needed to go to Gaoling. She said that we would find the 'greatest earthbender in the world' there," Aang explained.

And thus they flew off in the direction of Gaoling.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at Kyoshi Island, Usagi prepared a messenger hawk. "I'm moving to the North Pole for now. Take this to King Bumi in Omashu," she instructed the bird, which obediently flew off to deliver her message. She grinned. "And the Lady Beifong is about to be much happier."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not seriously going to repeat verbatim most of the dialogue in the show. You've already seen all that before. It's unnecessary and gratuitous for this first chapter. Next chapter, there will be more dialogue and less jump cuts. Also, you really think someone who knows the future would pass up the opportunity to rescue Toph from being treated like she's utterly helpless earlier? Come on. So, Toph is going to join the Gaang before they even visit Bumi for the first time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Local earthbending child prodigy runs away from home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notably, Aang hasn't been to the Foggy Swamp, so he hasn't got a clue who his earthbending teacher is supposed to be. They're basically guessing.

They arrived in Gaoling shortly before dusk.

Usagi had said that "the greatest earthbender in the world" was here. Aang assumed she was saying _go get your earthbending master_ when she had given that order.

There was just one problem: they had no idea where to look. They had nothing to go off of.

So they asked around for a bit. Unfortunately, night soon fell, and so most people retired to their homes.

They were heading back to Appa when they overheard a very loud noise that sounded like a rockslide somehow happening underground.

They rushed towards the direction of the sound, and found a rather unassuming rock wall.

An unassuming rock wall on the side of a small mountain with footprints leading to it, which just so happened to stop right in front of the wall.

"I think someone's earthbending on the other side of the wall," Aang whispered.

"You think?" Sokka whispered back, more than a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

"I think we should wait for them to come out," Aang suggested quietly.

Sokka and Katara nodded in agreement.

* * *

About an hour later, a chunk of the rock wall slid open to reveal...a girl who was dressed in fancy-looking robes and looked to be about Aang's age.

Aang noticed something even stranger about the girl.

Her eyes looked milky.

Aang then realized that _this girl was blind_.

"Who's there?" she suddenly stated, shifting towards their general direction as if she knew where they were without even seeing them.

They tried to keep quiet.

But the girl knew they were there. A flurry of motion, and earth pillars were surrounding them, trapping them.

"Who are you and why were you waiting for me?" she questioned.

"My name is Aang. I'm the Avatar. And my friends are Katara and Sokka. We were directed towards Gaoling and I'm pretty sure we were told in a roundabout way to look for an earthbending teacher here, because we were told that the 'greatest earthbender in the world' waa here," Aang explained.

"You're blind," Sokka observed, looking at the girl.

"And?" she asked.

"You still managed to catch us waiting for you and figure out where we were without sight. And you used earthbending to do so," Katara elaborated.

The girl grinned. "That's because I am the greatest earthbender in the world. Come by my house tomorrow. I'm Toph Beifong."

* * *

The Beifongs were rich. Really, really rich.

They were also overly protective of Toph, to the point that despite the fact that Toph confessed and even demonstrated her skill as an earthbender to her parents, they absolutely refused to allow her to travel with the Avatar to teach him earthbending.

The trio of Aang, Sokka, and Katara left the Beifong residence feeling depressed. Toph was a child prodigy, but her parents refused to see her as anything other than a helpless little girl.

* * *

That night, Toph rushed to them as they were preparing to leave, a bag slung over her shoulders. "My parents changed my mind!" she exclaimed.

Sokka didn't buy it. "You're going to come along with us against their wishes, aren't you?" he sighed.

"...Maybe," Toph answered guiltily.

Sokka sighed again. "Okay, we'll write a note for them, just in case."

* * *

Lao and Poppy Beifong awoke to their daughter missing, and a note left for them.

_Dear Mr and Mrs Beifong,_

_Sorry, we have to borrow Toph for a while. Aang needs an earthbending teacher. It was her idea._

_Kind regards,_

_Aang_

_Sokka_

_Katara_

At the bottom, there was a jumble of scribbled calligraphy. Lao realized after looking at the page for a while what it was.

"Why did she try to add her own _signature_?" he asked in confusion.


	3. Omashu, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Gaang arrives in Omashu and immediately gets into trouble.

Aang had come up with the idea of making another stop in the Earth Kingdom before returning to their course for the North Pole - the city of Omashu.

As they crossed over the hill and Omashu came into their view, Aang gestured at the city and stated the obvious. "Well, there it is. The Earth Kingdom city of Omashu!"

"Wow, it's beautiful," Toph stated.

"Yeah, it really is-," Aang began , then remembered that Toph was blind and turned around to glare at her. "Really?"

"Hey, you walked right into it, trying to point something out to a _blind girl_ ," Toph deadpanned.

Aang decided to drop it and turned back towards the city. "I used to always come here to visit my friend Bumi."

Toph snickered at that. _He has no idea Bumi is the King now, probably_ , she thought.

"What's so funny?" Katara asked.

"Nothing, you'll see," Toph grinned.

Aang was eager to get into the city. "Well, let's go, slowpokes! The real fun's inside the city!" he called at them, before running down the hill.

* * *

After a few minutes, they arrived at the city gate.

"You guys are gonna love Omashu. The people here are the friendliest in the world," Aang proclaimed.

As if to contradict his point, right in front of them, three guards were preventing a cabbage merchant from entering. Apparently the cabbages he was selling were rotten. One of the guards enunciated his anger by using earthbending to create a pillar of rock beneath the merchant's cart, causing it to go flying off into the ravine.

The merchant expressed his grief at this by crying out "My cabbages!" while staring mournfully into the ravine.

* * *

Meanwhile, aboard a ship en route to the North Pole, Usagi wondered if the merchant was going to be as unlucky as he would have been without her involvement. Probably.

* * *

"How are we going to get in?" Sokka whispered.

"Relax," Toph said. "I got this." She held up a passport with the Beifong family seal on it.

"You think it'll help?" Katara asked.

Toph frowned. "My family is one of the wealthiest in the Earth Kingdom, of course my passport will get us in, Sugar Queen."

"Sugar Queen?" Katara was baffled by this nickname. She wasn't sure if it was a compliment or an insult.

They walked up to the guards and Toph flashed her passport. The guards bowed respectfully. "You grace us with your presence, Lady Beifong, and...company?" one of them said.

"They're my servants," offered Toph. Aang, Sokka, and Katara stared at her for this, a bit offended. Toph obviously couldn't see this, so it went unnoticed.

"Enjoy the city," the guard stated, as the three guards used earthbending to open the gates.

The four travelers proceeded into the city.

The city was crisscrossed with chutes carrying crates and other items at high speed.

"What's with the chutes?" Sokka asked, speaking for both himself and Katara.

"That's the Omashu delivery system," Aang explained.

"Great, so they get their mail on time?"

Aang grinned. "They do...but my friend Bumi found a better use for them!"

* * *

One needlessly destructive ride through the delivery system, their cart came to a halt after crashing into the cabbage merchant's cart. The merchant really wasn't having a good day. "My cabbages!" was his way of expressing his upset.

The four travelers were seized by the guards and taken to the palace to see the King of Omashu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've split Omashu into two chapters because of the fact that I'm not skipping over much dialogue this time.


	4. Omashu, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aang reunites with Bumi.

Bumi, King of Omashu, was currently thinking over a letter he had received from Usagi, one of his colleagues in the Order of the White Lotus.

_Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph likely stopping by within a week or two. Will likely wreak havoc because Aang wants to use the mail delivery system as a slide like old times. Feel free to have some fun with them. Just don't hurt them._

The subjects of said letter were currently standing before him. Usagi's prediction had been quite accurate - they had indeed been brought to him by the guards after they caused mayhem using the delivery system.

"What is your judgement, sire?" one of the guards asked him.

_She did say I could have fun with them_ , Bumi thought. "Throw them...a feast!"

* * *

The feast was quite nice.

The king offered Aang a chicken leg. "The people in my city have gotten fat from too many feasts, so I hope you like your chicken with no skin," he explained.

Aang shook his head. "Thanks, but I don't eat meat."

The king frowned and turned to Sokka. "How about you? I bet you like meat."

The king shoved the chicken in Sokka's mouth. Sokka didn't seem to mind, and in fact started eating the chicken eagerly. The king walked back to his seat.

Katara turned to Aang and began to whisper quietly. "Is it just me, or is this guy's crown a little crooked?" She made a loopy gesture by her head to accentuate her belief that the king was crazy.

The king reached his seat and sat down. "So tell me, young bald one, where are you from?" he asked Aang.

Aang panicked. "I'm from...Kangaroo Island!" he made up on the spot.

The king stared for a moment, and then grinned. "Oh, Kangaroo Island, eh? I hear that place is really hopping!"

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds. Aang and Katara just stared. Toph decided to express her opinion by shouting "Boooooo!"

The king seemed a bit disappointed by that. "You wound me, Lady Beifong."

Sokka decided to break the ice and burst out laughing. "Oh, I get it, because kangaroos hop!"

Aang and Katara stated at him. Toph planted her face into the table.

The king yawned and stretched his arms. "Well, all these good jokes are making me tired. Guess it's time to hit the hay."

Then he _threw_ a chicken leg at Aang, who instinctively caught it by bending a ball of air around it. There were gasps from the guards.

The king got to his feet. "There's an airbender in our presence, and not just any airbender. The Avatar! Just some servants of the Lady Toph Beifong, you said?"

Aang stood up and threw up his hands. "Okay, you caught me. I'm the Avatar. Doing my Avatar thing, keeping the world safe. Everything checks out." He looked under the table. "No firebenders here. So, good work, everybody!"

Toph slapped her face with her hand in exasperation.

Aang opted to ignore this and instead pulled Katara, Sokka, and Toph into a hug. "Love each other, respect all life, and don't run with your spears. We'll see you next time!" As he said this, the four of them were slowly backing towards the door of the throne room.

The guards prevented them from passing, lowering their spears in front of them.

Katara didn't like this. "You can't keep us here! Let us leave!"

The king responded to this by raising up a lettuce leaf from his plate and waving it around. "Lettuce leaf?" he asked questioningly.

"We're in serious trouble. This guy is nuts," Sokka whispered to the other three.

"Tomorrow, the Avatar will face three deadly challenges. But for now, the guards will show you to your chamber," the king informed them.

The chamberlain leaned in to talk to the king. "My liege, do you mean the good chamber or the bad chamber?"

The king paused for a moment. "The newly refurbished chamber."

The chamberlain was still confused. "Wait, which one are we talking about?"

"The one that used to be the bad chamber, until the recent refurbishing, that is. Of course, we've been calling it the new chamber, but we really should number them. Uh, take them to the refurbished chamber that was once bad!"

The guards escorted Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph to the chamber in question.

* * *

Aang awoke to find Katara, Sokka, and Toph missing. The king encased the three of them in creeping crystal in order to ensure Aang's cooperation. The challenges were rather random. First, Aang had to retrieve the king's lunchbox key. Second, Aang had to bring the king his pet, Flopsie, who turned out to be a goat-gorilla. Thirdly, Aang had to choose someone to fight from one of two choices. He made the mistake of choosing the king and wound up having to fight an unusually strong old man who was really good at earthbending. He was triumphant, but Aang never expected such a fight to be a challenge. Afterwards, the king told Aang that he had to figure out his name.

"You really don't know, Twinkletoes?" Toph groaned.

"Twinkletoes?" Aang asked, confused.

"It's my new nickname for you. Since you're so light on your feet, I'm calling you Twinkletoes," she explained .

Aang sighed. "What do you mean? Do you know his name?" he perked up, remembering the rest of what she'd said.

"Of course I do! Everyone knows who the King of Omashu is!" she exclaimed in exasperation.

"Tell me!" Aang requested.

Toph frowned. "No! This is something you gotta figure out on your own!" 

Katara had an idea. "Aang, what did you learn from the challenges?" she suggested.

Aang concentrated for a moment. "To solve each test, I had to think differently than I normally would." His face lit up in realization. "I know his name!"

* * *

Aang stood before the King of Omashu. "I solved the question the same way I solved the challenges. As you said a long time ago, I had to open my brain to the possibilities. Bumi, you're a mad genius." He happily embraced King Bumi in a hug.

"Oh Aang, it's good to see you. You haven't changed a bit. Literally," joked Bumi.

"Uhh, anyone wanna help us out?" Katara pleaded.

"I got it!" Toph shouted, and then broke herself out of the crystals using earthbending, and then freed Sokka and Katara as well.

Sokka was flabbergasted. "You could do that the whole time?!" he asked angrily.

"Yep," Toph grinned. "I also knew all along that Aang's old friend Bumi was the King of Omashu, but I didn't say anything."

"Who are you calling old?" Bumi asked disapprovingly, then sighed. "Okay, I'm old."

Sokka was babbling now. "Y-you knew the whole time?! And yet you didn't say or do anything? Why?"

Toph grinned mischievously. "Because it's hilarious how clueless you guys are about the Earth Kingdom," she explained.

Sokka decided to stop arguing with Toph and instead turned back to face Bumi. "But why go through all this?" he questioned.

"First of all, as the Lady Beifong said, it's pretty fun messing with people." Bumi snorted after saying this. "But I do have a reason. Aang, you have a difficult task ahead. The world has changed in the hundred years that you've been gone. It's the duty of the Avatar to restore balance to the world by defeating Fire Lord Ozai. You have much to learn. You must master the four elements and confront the Fire Lord. And when you do, I hope you will think like a mad genius. And it looks like you're in good hands. You'll need your friends to help defeat the Fire Nation."

Momo climbed up on Aang's shoulder. Bumi smiled, and added, "And you'll need Momo, too."

Aang bowed respectfully to his old friend. "Thank you for your wisdom, but before we leave, I have a challenge for you."

* * *

One chaotic chute ride later, the cabbage merchant's merchandise was once again destroyed, and again this was accompanied by his scream of "My cabbages!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since the dialogue for the challenges is unchanged, and they're also very visually oriented scenes, I skipped over them.


	5. The Valley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Gaang meets an old man looking for his nephew, and offers to escort him through a valley.

Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph had decided to set up camp for the night just outside a valley on the edge of Omashu.

"Land, sweet land!" Toph had proclaimed, kissing the ground as she disembarked from Appa.

They had just finished unpacking when an older man with gray hair tied into a knot, wearing green and gold Earth Kingdom robes, wandered into their camp.

"Excuse me, young travelers!" he called out to them.

The group turned to look at the newcomer.

"What is it, sir?" Aang asked.

A somber expression formed on the old man's face. "I'm looking for my nephew, and I was hoping if you could help me find him," he explained.

"I'll help you!" Aang offered excitedly. "I'm the Avatar! Helping people is what I do!"

The old man looked startled to hear that Aang was the Avatar, but relaxed after a few moments. "Thank you for your generosity, Avatar Aang," he bowed.

Aang bowed back, then frowned. "Wait, I didn't ever tell you my name," he realized.

Sokka reached for his boomerang.

The old man laughed heartily. "I have heard of you before, Avatar. That is how I know your name. But do not worry. I mean you no harm. I am simply asking for your help."

Aang seemed to relax at this, but Sokka didn't let his guard down.

"How do we know we can trust you?" Sokka asked.

The old man stroked his beard and smiled. "I'm an old friend of Bumi's," he offered.

That seemed to convince Sokka. He put the boomerang away.

"So what does your nephew look like?" Katara inquired.

The old man turned to Katara. "He's sixteen, has a burn scar on the left side of his face, wears a topknot just like me, and is incredibly awkward around everyone," he grinned.

"We haven't seen him," Toph chimed in.

There was a brief pause before Aang, Katara, and Sokka turned to stare at Toph.

"Anyway, we haven't seen your nephew. Ignore our blind friend over here, she's a bit of a prankster," Katara informed the old man.

The old man chuckled. "Can you help me look for him? I have been asking around, and apparently he visited the town of Hezhen, on the other side of this valley. Could I travel with you there? It would be nice to have some protection against robbers and animals."

"Sure, we can go there tomorrow. In the meantime, would you like to camp with us for the night?" Aang offered.

The old man smiled warmly. "Thank you for your kindness. I believe I will take you up on your offer. Would anyone like some tea?"

Aang grinned. "I'd like some!"

The old man retrieved a tea set from his belongings and began cooking tea. The others went off to do other things to pass the time, mostly chores.

Katara happened to catch a glimpse of what she was pretty sure was the old man using firebending to cook the tea. "Would you like to explain yourself?" she demanded.

Aang, Sokka, and Toph stopped what they were doing and turned towards Katara and the old man.

"What's the matter?" questioned Sokka.

"I just saw this old man using _firebending_ to cook the tea," Katara explained angrily.

The old man had an offended look on his face. "Young lady, whether or not I am a firebender has nothing to do with anything. As I said, I mean you no harm. I simply wish to find my nephew."

"He's telling the truth," Toph stated. "His heartbeat hasn't gone up and there's no other indication he might be lying."

The old man seemed to relax at this. "I am indeed a firebender, but I am by no means a supporter of the war. My nephew and I left the Fire Nation because of our opposition to the war. We are political dissidents," he explained. He finished making the tea and offered some to everyone.

"He isn't lying," Toph observed.

Everyone else seemed to relax at this, and they each took a cup of tea. "I'm sorry for being rude to you about your firebending," Katara apologized. "I'm not used to seeing firebenders who don't want to hurt us."

The old man sighed. "It is no matter. I apologize on behalf of my countrymen for what you have been through."

Katara shook her head. "There's no need for that. You aren't them, you don't have to apologize on their behalf."

The old man yawned. "It is getting late, and an old man like myself needs his rest. Good night." He went to bed on a blanket he had set up.

The others joined him in sleep a while after that.

* * *

The next day, they set off through the valley.

"So how'd you get separated from your nephew?" Sokka asked.

The old man sighed. "My nephew has a tendency to...wander off on his own. He's impulsive sometimes."

"So you said you two were political dissidents?" Aang initiated a conversation with the old man.

The old man nodded. "My nephew's father disowned him for his views on the war, and now we are wanted men. The Fire Nation does not tolerate dissent. We were forced to flee from our home because of this."

"That's horrible," Katara said.

"I never knew that the Fire Nation had people who _didn_ ' _t_ want to conquer the world," Sokka stated bluntly.

Aang, Katara, and the old man glared at him.

They walked through the rest of the valley in silence.

* * *

After a few hours, they arrived on the other side of the canyon, just outside of Hezhen.

The old man turned to the group and bowed respectfully. "I thank you for your kindness in helping me look for my nephew. I believe I can take care of myself from here on out."

"Wait, we never got your name or your nephew's! What if we find him before you do?" Katara exclaimed.

"My name is Iroh," the old man replied, introducing himself. "And my nephew is named Zuko."

Toph gasped at this, and everyone noticed. She very rarely had that reaction to anything. "Uhh...I think we'll be going now. Nice meeting you!" she stated, clearly nervous.

"What's wrong?" Katara asked.

"I'll explain later," Toph whispered, as she dragged them away from Iroh in a panic.

Iroh shrugged and waved at them. "Safe travels!" he shouted, smiling happily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Iroh makes his first appearance! We won't be seeing Zuko for a while longer, although he will appear eventually, don't worry.


	6. Hezhen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day gets even weirder as they find out what Zuko's been up to.

"What was that about?" Sokka hissed at Toph once they got out of Iroh's hearing range.

Toph sighed. "Prince Iroh is the older brother of Fire Lord Ozai. He was nicknamed the Dragon of the West. He laid siege to Ba Sing Se for six hundred days until his son, Prince Lu Ten, was killed in battle."

"Are you suggesting that that nice old man Iroh is actually an infamous Fire Nation general?" Katara asked skeptically.

"I'm pretty sure of it. Do you know why? Because the Fire Lord's son is named Zuko," Toph explained.

Aang frowned. "But you said Iroh was telling the truth," he pointed out.

Toph nodded. "He was, which is what's so confusing. It seems that the Fire Lord's brother and son really are against the war, and have the Fire Lord breathing down their backs. What prompted the change of heart from the Dragon of the West?"

"But if he's opposed to the Fire Lord, why did you make us run away? He could be an ally!" suggested Katara.

"I panicked, okay?" sighed Toph. "I didn't know how to react to the information Iroh had given us."

"Wait, he said that he knew Bumi," Sokka said. "Is there a club of old people who get together and plot the downfall of the Fire Lord?"

* * *

Meanwhile, aboard a ship en route to the North Pole, Usagi sneezed.

* * *

"I don't know, maybe?" Toph replied.

"We've reached Hezhen, so maybe we'll find some answers here," Aang interrupted, as they arrived in the town.

An older gentleman walked up to them and greeted them. "Ah, are you the Avatar? I was hoping you'd come here."

Aang, Katara, and Sokka exchanged glances.

"Maybe you're on to something with the old people club," Katara whispered to Sokka.

* * *

Aboard the ship, Usagi sneezed again.

* * *

"Who are you?" Aang asked the man.

The man bowed respectfully. "I am Bipin, the mayor of this humble town. I was hoping to talk to you at my home. We have much to discuss."

The group exchanged glances with one another, shrugged, and followed him into his house.

* * *

Mayor Bipin poured some tea for them. "So, what brings you to Hezhen?" he asked, as they sat down.

"Would you happen to know about a Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation who might have come through here?" Katara inquired.

Bipin's face lit up. "He came through here about a week ago, actually. He helped us drive out some horrible thugs who were trying to extort the town into paying them money to prevent them from attacking the town. He's quite a nice boy."

Once again, Aang, Katara, and Sokka exchanged confused glances.

"And you don't have a problem with a Prince of the Fire Nation stopping by your town for a few days?" Sokka remarked skeptically.

Now Bipin was the one who looked confused. "Why would I? Prince Zuko prevented an ambush of Earth Kingdom forces while also saving an entire Fire Nation battalion composed largely of new recruits three years ago, and since that time he's been undermining the Fire Nation war machine at every turn."

Sokka started stammering. Then he cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, are you telling me that there's a Prince of the Fire Nation running around sabotaging his own country's war effort?"

Bipin nodded. "That is correct, yes."

"So can you answer another question?" Toph interrupted. "Where does his uncle fit into all this?"

Bipin turned towards Toph. "Prince Iroh has been a close ally of Prince Zuko. No one seems to know how the two have been able to keep up to date on the inner workings of the Fire Nation military and sabotage them so consistently, but many believe that Iroh has a vast underground network of informants that leak information to him."

"So, let me get this straight," Sokka interjected. "There's not one, but two Princes of the Fire Nation actively undermining the Fire Lord and the war?"

"Correct," answered Bipin.

"This is really weird," Aang said.

"I never knew that the Fire Nation royal family was divided when it came to the war," Katara added.

Aang got out of his seat and stood up. "Thank you for the tea. We have to be going now, I'm really sorry."

"It's fine. You're the Avatar, you have places to be." Bipin's tone was understanding.

The four travelers bowed respectfully before leaving the mayor's home. They were heading back towards the valley when they noticed Appa...standing next to Iroh.

"You forgot your sky bison," Iroh said with a warm smile on his face.

"...Thanks," Aang replied uncomfortably. They loaded their supplies into the saddle and got in.

After a "Yip yip!" from Aang, they were flying away from Hezhen, with Iroh waving goodbye to them and shouting "Good luck!" at them.

"That was...really weird," Toph commented after a few minutes of them flying in silence.

"No kidding," Sokka agreed.


	7. Interlude: The Princess's Uncertainty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short interlude focusing on Azula

The blast of blue fire dissipated as Azula, Crown Princess of the Fire Nation, lowered her arms to her sides.

Firebending practice in the courtyard was going well.

Until the voice spoke, the one that always nagged at her, that tried to lecture her.

 _Is this really what you want?_ , her mother asked. _You're the Crown Princess, but at what cost?_

Azula growled. "Of course it's what I want," she retorted. But she was uncertain.

The cost in question was great. Her cousin Lu Ten was dead. Her uncle and brother were banished traitors. The family at the palace consisted of just her and Father.

Sometimes she would have moments of doubt. She would think to herself that perhaps Father wasn't always right. But she pushed those thoughts out of her mind every time. It wouldn't do to question the Fire Lord. He was her sovereign and father. And children had to obey their parents. That was just how things worked.

So why did Zuko and Uncle Iroh's absence sometimes make her feel so horrible? They had spoken out against Father, disrespected the Fire Lord, brought dishonor to the family and to the Fire Nation. They were engaged in open rebellion against the Fire Lord. They were traitors.

Azula pushed these thoughts out of her mind too.

Firebending practice continued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't a full-length chapter, just an interlude about what Azula is thinking about all this.


	8. Kuangshanzhen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Gaang liberate a Fire Nation prison rig for earthbenders, with help from an unlikely source.

They'd set up camp on the grassy plateau. Toph was napping on Appa's tail. Katara was putting away a sleeping blanket. Aang was relaxing on a tree root.

Sokka finally returned from looking for food, and Momo flew down to greet him with a screech.

Aang used airbending to lift himself out of the tree branch and land in front of Sokka. "Great, you're back!" he exclaimed.

Toph cut right to the chase. "What's for dinner?" she interrupted.

Sokka went through his bag, retrieved some nuts he found, and dumped them on a tree stump. "We've got a few options. First, round nuts. And some kind of oval shaped nuts? And some rock-shaped nuts...that might just be rocks." At this, he tossed the nuts that may have just been rocks at Momo. He turned back to Aang, Katara, and Toph. "Dig in!"

Katara just stared. "Seriously?"

Toph groaned. "What else ya got?"

Their conservation was interrupted by a very loud earthquake.

"What was that?" Sokka asked worriedly.

Toph facepalmed. "It's another earthbender," she stated, pressing her hands against the ground to listen to the vibrations.

"Let's go check it out!" Aang exclaimed, and he, Katara, and Sokka took off running towards the source of the quake. Toph groaned and started following them.

The earthbender in question was a young boy, probably about Sokka's age, who was currently using his earthbending to carve boulders out of the ground, levitate them into the air, and send them crashing into the walls of the ravine.

Katara ran in front of Aang, Sokka, and Toph. "Hello there! I'm Katara! What's your name?" she asked excitedly.

The boy stopped earthbending and turned around to see the group, and a panicked expression formed on his face. He ran off, blocking the path behind him with boulders using his bending.

"Nice to meet you!" Aang called after him.

"Nice going, Sugar Queen, you scared him off," Toph teased.

Katara glared at her. "I just wanted to say hi," she shrugged.

"Hey! That guy's gotta be running somewhere. Maybe we're near a village? And I bet that village has a market!" Aang rambled excitedly.

Katara quickly became excited as well. "Which means no nuts for dinner!"

Aang, Katara, and Toph started to run in the direction the boy had fled. "Hey! I worked hard to get those nuts!" he shouted at them. Then he sighed. "Yeah, I hate them too."

* * *

There was indeed a village nearby. The sign proclaimed that the village's name was Kuangshanzhen.

"Is it just me, or do Earth Kingdom towns tend to have really uncreative names?" Sokka remarked as they walked into Kuangshanzhen.

"There's like fifty small towns named Kuangshanzhen throughout the Earth Kingdom," Toph explained.

"Oh, so it's not just me."

They wandered the town, Aang stopping to try to buy a hat using some of the nuts Sokka found as barter.

Katara noticed the earthbender boy from earlier enter a shop. She followed him in.

"Hi, Mom," the boy greeted the shopkeeper, who Katara gathered was his mother.

"Where have you been, Haru? You're late! Get started on your chores," his mother replied.

Katara entered the shop. "Hey, you're that kid! Why did you run away before?"

"Uh, you must have me confused with some other kid," Haru said nervously.

Aang, Sokka, and Toph chose that moment to enter the shop as well. "No, she doesn't. We saw you earthbending," Aang stated.

Haru and his mother both gasped. Haru's mother closed the blinds to the window and slammed the door shut.

"They saw you doing what?!" Haru's mother asked angrily.

"They're crazy, Mom! I mean, look at how they're dressed," Haru answered in desperation.

Granted, they weren't exactly wearing normal outfits. Aang had that goofy conical hat he'd bought a few minutes ago on, and Sokka and Katara's Water Tribe clothing weren't really commonplace in the Earth Kingdom.

"You know how dangerous that is! You know what would happen if _they_ caught you earthbending!" Haru's mother warned.

At that moment, someone knocked on the door. "Open up!" someone ordered.

Sokka peeked through the blinds. "Fire Nation! Act natural!" he whispered.

They weren't very good at acting natural. Haru's mother opened the door to reveal the visitor was a Fire Nation tax collector, and he glared at the travelers. Sokka was looking hungrily at an apple - or rather, doing a bad impression of doing so. Katara had stuffed berries into her mouth. Aang was leaning on a barrel, grinning a bit too much. And Toph was...just standing there. The barrel's lid collapsed under Aang's weight, and his arm was soaked in the barrel's contents.

The tax collector was distracted from his glaring by Haru's mother, who got his attention with an angry question. "What do you want? I've already paid you this week!" she informed him.

The tax collector got an arrogant look on his face. "The tax just doubled," he grinned. "And we wouldn't want an accident, now, would we?" With this statement, he produced a ball of fire between his hands. Everyone backed away from him a bit. "Fire is sometimes so hard to control."

Haru's mother went behind the counter. She opened a small chest and gave the tax collector a small handful of Earth Kingdom currency. Haru glared at the tax collector during all this, doing his best not to attack the man.

The tax collector took the money, and walked towards the exit. Before he left, he turned around and smirked. "You can keep the copper ones." With that, he dropped four copper pieces to the floor and left, slamming the door behind him.

"Nice guy," Sokka stated sarcastically. "How long has the Fire Nation been here?"

Haru's mother sighed. "Five years. Fire Lord Ozai uses our town's coal mines to fuel his ships."

Haru clenched his hands into fists. "They're thugs. They steal from us. And everyone here's too much of a coward to do anything about it."

His mother looked at him angrily. "Quiet, Haru! Don't talk like that," she warned.

Katara looked at the two in confusion. "But Haru's an earthbender! He can help!"

Toph decided to chime in at this moment. "And I'm the greatest earthbender in the world," she proclaimed with a grin.

Haru's mother shook her head. "Earthbending is forbidden. It's caused nothing but misery for this village! Haru must never use his abilities."

"How can you say that?" Katara responded. "Haru has a gift! Asking him not to earthbend is like asking me not to waterbend. It's a part of who we are."

Haru's mother shook her head again. "You don't understand."

"I understand that Haru can help you fight back! What can the Fire Nation do to you that they haven't done already?" Katara questioned.

Haru's mother's facial expression became one of mourning. "They could take Haru away. Like they took his father."

* * *

Haru's mother had graciously allowed them to store Appa in the family barn for the time being.

Haru and Katara opted to go for a walk through the woods at dusk.

"I'm sorry about what I said earlier," Katara told Haru. "I didn't know about your father."

"That's okay," Haru replied. "It's funny, the way you were talking back in the store? It reminded me of him."

Katara was a bit flattered by this. "Thanks."

"My father was very courageous. When the Fire Nation invaded, he and the other earthbenders were outnumbered ten to one. But they fought back anyway."

"He sounds like a brave man."

They stopped walking once they reached a cliff that gave them a great view of the sunset.

Haru sighed. "After the attack, they rounded up my father and every other earthbender, and took them away. We haven't seen them since."

"So that's why you hide your earthbending," Katara realized.

"Yeah. The thing is, my father taught me everything I know about earthbending. So earthbending is the only way I can feel close to him."

They sat down atop the cliff.

Katara showed her necklace to Haru. "See this necklace? My mother gave it to me."

Haru stared at the necklace. "It's beautiful."

"I lost my mother in a Fire Nation raid. This necklace is all I have left of her."

"I'm sorry that happened to you."

* * *

They were on their way back to the village when they heard an explosion.

"Help!" a voice cried out.

"The mine!" Haru said, with a horrified look on his face.

Katara and Haru rushed to the mine entrance to find it had collapsed. An old man was pinned beneath the collapsed rocks.

"Help me!" the man pleaded.

Katara tried desperately to pull him out, but to no avail. "Ugh! It's not working! We have to get help!"

Haru frowned. "There's no time! Pull harder!"

Then it hit Katara. "Haru. There's a way you can help him."

Haru shook his head. "I can't."

"Please, there's no one around to see you. It's the only way!"

Haru relented and used earthbending to remove the collapsed rocks, pushing them into the tunnel itself.

Katara hugged Haru. "You did it!"

As Haru and Katara helped the old man to his feet and walked him back to the village, a hooded figure watched them, and then turned and walked off back to the village as well.

* * *

In the dead of night, a small group of Fire Nation soldiers came to Haru's home.

Haru answered the door, and then gasped when he was confronted by the troops.

"That's him," a hooded woman said. "That's the boy I saw use his earthbending to help that old man."

* * *

Katara awoke to devastating news. Haru's mother informed her that Fire Nation soldiers had arrested Haru overnight.

She ran into the barn where Aang, Sokka, and Toph were loading their supplies onto Appa. "They took him! They took Haru away!" she shouted.

Aang looked at her in surprise. "What?"

Katara's tone became hurried. "Someone must have seen us and turned him in to the Fire Nation. It's all my fault. I forced him into earthbending!"

Sokka walked over to her and held her hand and rested his other on her shoulder supportively. "Slow down, Katara. When did this happen?"

"Haru's mother said they came for him at midnight."

"Then it's too late to track him. He's long gone."

Katara turned to the door, clenching her fists. "We don't need to track him. The Fire Nation is going to take me right to Haru."

Aang looked at Katara in puzzlement. "And...why would they do that?"

Katara had a look of determination in her eyes. "Because they're going to arrest me for earthbending."

Aang and Sokka glanced at each other.

The silence was broken by Toph bursting out laughing and exclaiming "Sugar Queen's finally lost it!"

* * *

Their initial plan was to have Aang use airbending to send a gust of wind through the ventilation shafts and lift up a rock placed on top of one of the shafts at the same time Katara adopted an earthbending stance.

Toph scoffed at this idea. "That's too complicated. You already have an earthbender. I can use earthbending while hiding out of sight instead of Twinkletoes using the ventilation shafts to fake it. This way, it'll be real earthbending, but we'll make it look like Sugar Queen's doing it instead of me."

And thus the plan was revised.

* * *

As a group of soldiers approached them, everyone got into position.

Katara and Sokka pretended to walk into each other.

"Get out of my way, pipsqueak!" Sokka shouted in an over-the-top manner, pointing at Katara.

This got the soldiers' attention.

Katara leaned forward angrily. "How dare you call me pipsqueak, you giant-eared cretin!"

Sokka leaned forward as well. "What did you call me?"

Katara continued to act angry in an exaggerated manner, her hair loopies flailing wildly with her movements. "A giant-eared cretin! Look at those things! Do herds of animals use them for shade?" She moved her hands to make them look like an elephant's ears.

Sokka stood over Katara. "You better back off!" Then he leaned forward, covering the side of his mouth with his hand. "Seriously, back off," he whispered.

Katara stood tall, as Sokka pretending to cower in fear of her. "I will not back off! I bet elephants get together and make fun of how large _your_ ears are!"

"That's it! You're going down!"

"I'll show you who's boss!" Katara pointed at Sokka angrily. "Earthbending style!" She imitated an earthbending move, and Toph played her part, using earthbending to lift the boulder.

"The girl! She's earthbending!" a guard shouted.

Sokka held Katara in place as the boulder fell to the ground. "I'll hold her," he informed the guards. Then he whispered to Katara. "You've got twelve hours to find Haru. We'll be right behind you."

* * *

The prison rig was pretty much exactly what one would expect a Fire Nation prison for earthbenders would be. It was a metal structure suspended above the sea.

The prison warden introduced himself to the prisoners with a perpetually smug tone of voice. "Earthbenders, it is my pleasure to welcome you aboard our modest shipyard. I am your warden. I prefer to think of you not as prisoners, but as honored guests. And I hope you come to think of me as your humble and caring host." He began to pace in front of the line of prisoners. "You will succeed here, if you simply abide by the rules I have set out. Simply treat me with the courtesy that I give you, and we'll get along famously."

With that, the warden stopped talking, and the new prisoners began their tour of the facility. One prisoner let out a cough just a few seconds after the warden had finished speaking.

The warden began to speak again. "You will notice, earthbenders, that this rig is made entirely of metal. You are miles away from any rock or earth. So, if you have any illusions about employing that brutish savagery that passes for bending among you people, forget them. It is impossible. Good day."

The warden walked away from them, and the group began to filter into the courtyard.

And then Katara was yanked out of sight by someone.

* * *

The guard pulled Katara to the side.

"Let go of me!" she hissed.

"Be quiet, I'm trying to help you!" the guard whispered angrily.

"How could you help me?"

"I'm not a real guard."

Katara looked at him skeptically. "What?"

"I've been pretending to be a guard for four days now. I was planning to stage a mutiny among the guards because everyone hates the warden, and in the confusion I was going to free the prisoners," the guard-who-wasn't-actually-a-guard explained. "Why is a waterbender on a prison rig for _earthbenders_?"

"It's a long story," she responded. "I'm planning to bust everyone out of here myself."

"Then let's do this together. You can call me Lee."

"I'm Katara."

* * *

Katara arrived in the courtyard, and Haru spotted her almost immediately.

Haru's eyes widened. "Katara?"

Katara ran over and hugged Haru. "Haru!"

"What are you doing here?" Haru asked, confused.

Katara looked almost apologetic. "It's my fault you were captured. I came to rescue you."

Haru stared at her in shock. "So you got yourself arrested?"

"It was the only way to find you."

"You've got guts, Katara. I'll give you that." He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Come on. There's someone I want you to meet."

The two walked over to an old man with a long gray beard who was eating dinner with the other prisoners.

"Katara, this is my father, Tyro," Haru introduced the old man. Tyro looked up. "Dad, this is Katara," he added, introducing Katara to his father.

Katara bowed respectfully. "It's an honor to meet you."

Tyro handed Katara a bowl of food. "Have some dinner, Katara."

Katara took the bowl, but grimaced as she looked at its contents.

"It's not as bad as it looks," Tyro offered.

Katara ate a spoonful of the food, and her expression became one of disgust.

Tyro chuckled. "It's still pretty bad, though."

Another prisoner walked up and laid a hand on Tyro's shoulder. "Tyro. The prisoners are complaining there aren't enough blankets to go around."

Tyro let out a sigh. "I'll talk to the guards. In the meantime, make sure the elderly are taken care of. The rest of us will simply have to hope for warmer weather."

"If you don't mind me asking, what's your escape plan?" Katara asked.

Tyro raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"You know, the plan to get everyone off the rig? What is it? Mutiny, sabotage?"

Tyro shook his head. "The plan? The plan is to survive. Wait out this war. Hope that one day some of us can get back home and forget this ever happened."

Katara was horrified. "How can you say that?! You sound like you've already given up!"

Tyro set his hand on Katara's shoulder. "Katara, I admire your courage. And I envy your youth. But people's lives are at stake here. The warden is a ruthless man, and he won't stand for any rebellion. I'm sorry, but we're powerless."

Katara shook her head and got to her feet. "We'll see about that."

She grabbed a trash can lid and a ladle and climbed on top of a wooden table, then banged the ladle against the lid to get the prisoners' attention. "Earthbenders!" she shouted. "You don't know me, but I know of you. Every child in my Water Tribe village was rocked to sleep with stories of the brave Earth Kingdom, and the courageous earthbenders who guard its borders. Some of you may think that the Fire Nation has made you powerless. Yes, they have taken away your ability to bend. But they can't take away your _courage_. And it is your courage they should truly fear! Because it runs deeper than any mine you've been forced to dig, any ocean that keeps you far from home! It is the strength of your hearts that make you who you are. Hearts that will remain unbroken when all rock and stone has eroded away. The time to fight back is now! I can tell you the Avatar has returned! So remember your courage, earthbenders, let us fight for our freedom!"

The courtyard was silent. One prisoner coughed.

_It didn't work_ , Katara thought to herself. _Have they really given up?_

* * *

That night, Aang woke Katara up and they made their way to the perimeter, where Sokka and Toph were waiting with Appa.

"Your twelve hours are up. Where's Haru? We've gotta get out of here!" Sokka stated.

"I can't," Katara replied, shaking her head.

Sokka frowned. "We don't have much time. There are guards everywhere. Get on!"

Aang was worried. "Katara, what's wrong?"

"I'm not leaving," Katara declared. "I'm not giving up on these people."

Sokka and Aang exchanged glances.

"What do you mean you're not leaving?" Sokka hissed.

"We can't abandon these people! There has to be a way to help them," Katara explained.

"Maybe she's right," Aang said. "What do you say, Sokka?"

Sokka scowled. "I say you're both crazy."

The three of them ducked to avoid a searchlight passing by.

"Last chance! We need to leave, _now_ ," Sokka stated.

"No!" Katara refused.

Sokka shook his head in exasperation. "I hate when you get like this. Come on, we better hide."

Sokka and Katara slipped off to hide. Aang turned to Toph. "Are you coming?" he asked her.

Toph scoffed. "No way. I can't see anything on metal. I'll stay with Appa."

"Then take Appa and hide nearby," Aang instructed.

"I can't steer a sky bison! I'm blind!" Toph pointed out.

"Appa can handle it."

Appa flew off elsewhere with Toph in the saddle.

* * *

Aang, Katara, and Sokka huddled together behind some crates, sitting on the metal floor.

"We don't have much time. What are we gonna do?" Sokka questioned.

"I wish I knew how to make a hurricane," Aang said.

Sokka and Katara stared at him.

"The warden would run away and we'd steal his keys!" Aang explained.

"Wouldn't he just take his keys with him?" Sokka pointed out.

Aang shrugged. "I'm just tossing ideas around."

"I tried talking the earthbenders into fighting back, but it didn't work!" Katara informed them. "If there was just some way to help them help themselves."

"For that, they'd need some kind of earth, or some rock. Something they can bend," Sokka reminded her.

"But this entire place is made of metal," Katara observed.

Lee decided to join them at that moment. "No, it's not," he stated.

Sokka and Aang looked at Katara, wanting to know their next move given that it looked like they'd been caught.

"This is Lee. He's not actually a guard. He's infiltrated the prison rig and has been trying to stage a mutiny among the guards to help the prisoners escape," Katara explained.

Aang and Sokka relaxed at her statement. "What do you mean, it's not?" Sokka asked.

"The rig itself is made of metal, yes, but the rig burns coal. In other words, _earth_ ," Lee said.

Katara, Sokka, and Aang's eyes all lit up in realization at this.

* * *

"It's almost dawn. We're running out of time! You sure this is gonna work?" Katara asked Sokka.

"It should," Sokka answered. "These vents reminded me of our initial plan back at the village, before we switched to just having Toph do real earthbending instead. We're gonna do the same thing, but on a much bigger scale. There's a huge deposit of coal at the base of the silo. And the whole system is ventilated. Aang closed off all the vents except one. When he does his airbending, the coal only has one place to go - right back here."

They were spotted by the guards at that moment. "There's the intruder!" one of them shouted.

The prisoners began to congregate in the courtyard and watched.

Sokka pulled out his boomerang. "Stay back! I'm warning you!"

"Katara, stop! You can't win this fight!" Tyro warned.

"Listen to him well, child. You're one mistake away from dying where you stand," the warden smirked.

Fortunately, the conversation was interrupted by the coal bursting through the vents, landing on the floor to form a large pile. Aang jumped out of the shaft afterwards, covered in soot. Katara clambered to the top of the pile and grabbed a rock.

"Here's your chance, earthbenders! Take it! Your fate is in your hands!" she proclaimed.

Haru began to move towards the coal, prepared to help, but Tyro put his arm in front of Haru to block his path.

The warden began to laugh. "Foolish girl. You thought a few inspirational words and some coal would change these people? Look at these blank, hopeless faces. Their spirits were broken a long time ago. Oh, but you _believe in them_. How sweet. They're a waste of your energy, little girl. You _failed_." He turned to leave, but was interrupted by something throwing a rock at the back of his head. He whirled around to face his assailant.

Haru stood tall, levitating three pieces of coal in his hand.

A look of fury crossed the warden's face, and he sent a blast of fire towards Haru. Tyro summoned a wall of coal to defend his son, and the rebellion began.

The guards stood in formation. "Show no mercy!" the warden commanded. The guards did as ordered, sending a combined blast of fire at the prisoners. Except one guard.

Lee took this opportunity to turn towards the warden and shoot a blast of fire at him.

"Mutiny! Treason!" the warden shouted.

"For the Earth Kingdom, attack!" Tyro shouted.

And thus the battle began.

* * *

It wasn't much of a fight. The guards were easily outnumbered. The prisoners, Aang, Sokka, Katara, and Lee incapacitated them, leaving them restrained on the deck.

Haru turned to the group. "I want to thank you for saving me. No, for saving us."

Katara shook her head. "All it took was a little coal."

"It wasn't the coal, Katara, it was you."

Katara blushed at that.

"Thank you for helping me find my courage, Katara of the Water Tribe," Tyro interrupted. "My family and everyone here owes you much."

"So, I guess you're going home now," Katara stated.

Tyro smiled. "Yes. To take back my village." Then he raised his voice. "To take back all of our villages! The Fire Nation will regret the day they set foot on our land!"

The crowd of ex-prisoners let out a cheer at that.

"Come with us," Haru told Katara.

Katara shook her head. "I can't. Your mission is to take back your home. Ours is to get Aang to the North Pole." She turned to look over the railing, at Aang sitting atop Appa.

"That's him, isn't it? The Avatar?" Haru asked.

Katara nodded.

"I understand," Haru smiled. "Lee's offered to help us retake our village. He says that it's the least he can do after his people have done so much to hurt the Earth Kingdom."

* * *

"You could come with us, you know. I need a firebending teacher," Aang told Lee.

Lee shook his head, still in disguise. "Not now. I still have things to do. You'll see me again, though."

Aang sighed. "Alright."

Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph climbed aboard Appa, and Aang grabbed the reins. "Yip yip!" he shouted, and Appa flew them away from the rig.

* * *

Lee took off his helmet. Of course, his name wasn't really Lee. That was just part of the disguise he used whenever he infiltrated a Fire Nation base undercover. He leaned down to the floor of the prison rig, picking up the Water Tribe betrothal necklace that he had noticed lying on the deck.

Katara had left her necklace behind.

He let out a sigh. Zuko, banished Prince of the Fire Nation, now had a necklace to return.

"Well, I guess I'll be seeing them again earlier than I thought," he smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few notes:
> 
> 1\. I came across a bit of difficulty in writing this chapter. I'm not really sure why. Maybe because it's standalone in this fic because Zuko isn't hunting them?
> 
> 2\. Zuko makes his first appearance, although the Gaang don't know who he is.
> 
> 3\. I made up a name for Haru's village - Kuangshanzhen. It literally means "miner town" in Chinese. The lack of creativity in the naming is acknowledged within this chapter.
> 
> 4\. I did change a few other things from the episode. Rather than the old man who Haru rescues turning them in, which raises many questions (was he actually in danger or was it just an entrapment scheme to lure earthbenders into revealing themselves and getting arrested? If he was actually in imminent danger, why did he betray the person who saved his life?), so I changed it so that a Fire Nation informant noticed the rescue and reported them. I also decided to have the Warden give his full speech without interruption, with the prisoner coughing after he was done, as an indicator that things aren't quite 1:1 with canon. Additionally, I made it so that rather than them having Aang use airbending to lift the rock as part of the fake earthbending scheme, I had Toph use real earthbending and they passed it off as Katara doing it. I also changed how the prisoners get rid of the guards. And lastly, of course, Zuko is pretending to be a guard in order to free the prisoners.
> 
> 5\. The order of Book 1 is gonna be shifted a bit. The Winter Solstice arc will be at the halfway point, rather than being the chapter after this. So we're a few chapters away from that.


	9. Interlude: The Letter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One of Usagi's agents has bad news.

The messenger hawk arrived at the North Pole a day after Usagi did.

The letter it carried was marked with characters indicating that it was a high priority message.

Usagi scowled and opened the letter.

_Dear Grand Lotus,_

_The situation in Gaipan is even worse than we feared. Jet is completely consumed by his hatred of the Fire Nation and makes no effort to distinguish between Ozai's supporters and Iroh's. Despite the fact that Iroh's troops have made no attempts to enforce any of the Fire Nation's laws on the population of Gaipan, and have done nothing more than provide defense against Ozai's forces, the "Freedom Fighters" continue to engage in an onslaught of ambushes and other attacks on Iroh's forces. This is despite the fact that the town's government agreed by vote to authorize Iroh's soldiers to act as a defense force on their behalf.  
_

_But that is not all. Our source within the Freedom Fighters tells me that Jet intends to fill up the reservoir and blow up the dam, flooding Gaipan and killing soldiers and civilians alike._

_You said the Avatar and his friends would come to stop Jet before it was too late. I only hope you're right._

_Regards,_

_Agent Lo  
_

Usagi scowled. Agent Lo was usually so cheerful. This threat must be serious to get _her_ in such a panic. This wasn't good.

She began to compose her reply.

_Dear Agent Lo,_

_Thank you for your efforts. Return to your previous post and await further orders. I believe you'll be needed for an even more important mission in just a few months.  
_

_Regards,_

_Grand Lotus_

Usagi watched the messenger hawk disappear into the distance with her letter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Agent Lo is a canon character, one that you might be able to deduce the identity of if you pay attention. This interlude largely just sets up the events of the Jet chapter that will be in the chapter after the next one.


	10. The Waterbending Scroll

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Gaang acquire a waterbending scroll from some pirates through completely legal means.

"You know, I should probably start learning waterbending," Aang stated as the group flew through the mountains on Appa.

"If you want, I can teach you some of the stuff I know," Katara offered.

Aang smiled. "You'd do that?"

Katara nodded and looked over the edge of the saddle at the ground. "We'll need to find a good source of water first."

Sokka got a sarcastic grin on his face. "Maybe we can find a puddle for you to splash in."

* * *

As if the universe was mocking Sokka, they found a river and waterfall for Aang and Katara to practice at.

"Nice puddle," Sokka muttered.

"Does the universe just love making you look bad?" Toph asked.

"Sometimes, I think so, yeah," sighed Sokka.

Katara began to teach Aang some waterbending moves.

Katara moved her hands back and forth, causing small waves to form in the water, as Aang looked on in amazement. "This is a pretty basic move, but it still took me months to perfect. So don't get frustrated if you don't get it right away. Just push and pull the water like this. The key is getting the wrist movement right."

Aang stood up and attempted to copy her movements. "Like this?"

Katara shook her head. "That's almost right. If you keep practicing, I'm sure eventually-"

She was interrupted by Aang successfully performing the move, and even producing bigger waves than she had. "Hey, I'm bending it already!" Aang said excitedly.

Katara was rather surprised he had already mastered it. "Wow, I can't believe you got that so quickly. It took me two months to learn that move."

Aang shrugged. "Well, you had to figure it out all on your own. I'm lucky enough to have a great teacher."

Katara was flattered. "Thanks," she smiled.

"So, what's next?" Aang asked eagerly.

"This is a more difficult move. I call it streaming the water," Katara explained. She moved her hands and a stream of water emerged from the water's surface, and she moved it around. "It's harder than it looks, so don't be disappointed if-"

She was interrupted by Aang performing the move far better than she had. He even moved the stream over him and then returned it to the river. She was a bit upset by this.

"Nice work," she stated. Then she frowned. "Though the over-the-head flair was unnecessary."

Aang rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry." Then he returned to his usual cheerful self. "Well, don't stop now! Keep 'em coming!"

Katara looked up, a sad expression on her face. "Well, I kind of know this one other move, but it's pretty hard. I haven't even totally figured it out yet. The idea is to create a big, powerful wave." She attempted a demonstration, her hands shaky, and began to form a big mass of water. However, the water bubble burst and its contents returned to the river with a splash.

"So, like this?" With that, Aang formed a huge wave of water that...proceeded to wash over the camp. He smiled. "Looks like I got the hang of that move! What else do you know?"

Katara scowled and shook her head. "That's enough practicing for today."

"Yeah, I'll say!" Sokka shouted. "You just sent our supplies down the river!" With that, he pointed towards the flowing waters to prove his point. The supplies were long gone already.

* * *

They were able to find a city with a market to begin replacing their lost supplies.

Aang pulled out a white whistle in the shape of a bison after they met up after a few minutes of shopping. "Look what I got!" he declared. He blew into it, but it barely made any sound at all to human ears.

"It doesn't even work," Sokka said, not realizing that humans weren't who were intended to hear the whistle.

Aang looked at him in puzzlement. "You realize that the sound it makes is mostly outside of human hearing range, right? Appa will hear it just fine, but we won't."

Sokka looked a bit embarrassed by that bit of information. "...Oh."

* * *

They arrived at the port at the edge of town, where a ship was docked. A man stood outside the ship, attempting to attract visitors by gesturing wildly and shouting. "Earth Nation! Fire Nation! Water Nation! So long as bargains are your inclination, you're welcome here! Don't be shy, come on by!" The man noticed Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph after saying this, and ran up to them. "Oh! You four, I can see from your clothing that you're world-traveling types. Perhaps I can interest you in some exotic curios?"

Aang turned to face the man. "Sure! What are curios?"

Toph answered before the man could. "Items that are unique x rare, or interesting. Knick-knacks, basically," she explained.

"Yeah, what she said," the man agreed, secretly thankful she had spoken. He had no idea what curios actually were, embarrassingly enough.

The travelers followed the man into the ship.

The shopkeeper, who had an iguana-parrot perched on his shoulder, took an immediate interest in Momo. "I've never seen such a fine specimen of lemur. That beast would fetch me a hefty sum if you'd be interested in bartering."

Aang shook his head. "Momo's not for sale."

The shopkeeper let out a disappointed sigh. "It's a shame. I haven't seen a flying lemur in seventeen years. I thought they were all extinct."

Katara walked over to the scroll shelf. One scroll caught her eye, and she pulled it out qnd let out a gasp when she saw that it was a waterbending scroll. "Look at this, Aang! It's a waterbending scroll!"

Aang walked over to look at it with her. He then turned to the shopkeeper, an excited grin on his face. "Where did you get a waterbending scroll?"

The shopkeeper grabbed the scroll and pulled it away from them, rolling it up. "Let's just say I got it up north, at a most reasonable price - free." With that, he put the scroll back on the shelf.

Sokka turned around and looked around, staring at the products and the iguana-parrot. He raised an eyebrow. "Wait a minute...sea-loving traders, with suspiciously acquired merchandise, and pet reptile birds? You guys are pirates!"

The shopkeeper/pirate captain put his arm around Sokka's shoulders. "We prefer to think of ourselves as _high-risk traders_ ," he corrected.

"So, how much for the, uh, _traded_ scroll?" Katara asked.

The captain shook his head. "I've already got a buyer, a nobleman in the Earth Kingdom. Unless, of course, you kids have two hundred gold pieces on you right now?" he responded skeptically.

"Actually, we do," Toph proclaimed, handing a bag of coins to Katara, who counted out two hundred gold pieces and set them on the counter.

The captain's eyes widened. "Well, a deal's a deal," he grinned. "It was a pleasure doing business with you, ladies." He retrieved the scroll and handed it to Katara.

* * *

"That was much easier than I expected," Sokka said after they left the pirate ship.

"Yeah, I was worried we were gonna have to haggle," Aang chuckled.

"Sugar Queen probably would have just stolen the scroll if I hadn't been here to pay for it," joked Toph.

Everyone just stared at Toph for a while after that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter becomes very different when Toph is there to just buy the scroll for them.


	11. Gaipan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Gaang arrive in Gaipan to find Iroh's forces are the targets of a misguided guerrilla warfare campaign.

Appa landed on the edge of a decently sized Earth Kingdom town.

A sign identified the town as being named Gaipan.

"Finally, a non-boring name," Sokka remarked.

Fire Nation soldiers stood guard at every entrance to the town, they found as they explored. Strangely enough, the townspeople weren't bothered by their presence. They carried out their daily lives as if nothing was wrong. Sokka even saw some of the townspeople occasionally start up conversations with some of the soldiers.

"Uhh, what's going on here?" Katara whispered.

"I don't know," Sokka replied.

They stopped in front of a random woman who happened to be walking by. "Hello!" Katara greeted.

The woman turned and smiled warmly at them. "Greetings."

"We have some questions for you," Sokka said.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"Why are there Fire Nation troops all over the town? And why don't the townsfolk seem bothered by it?" Aang asked.

The woman frowned. "Why would we be bothered? Prince Iroh sent these soldiers here to protect the town from being conquered by the forces of Fire Lord Ozai after the town's government asked Iroh for help."

Aang, Katara, and Sokka exchanged glances.

"She's not lying," Toph observed.

"Can we speak to the mayor?" Katara requested.

"He's in the big house in the center of the town, you can't miss it," the woman offered.

* * *

The mayor was a portly man with brown hair that had begun to turn gray. He looked to be in his late forties.

"So, what can I do for you?" he asked the travelers.

"Is it true that the town invited these Fire Nation soldiers here?" Sokka questioned.

The mayor looked at him in confusion. "Of course it's true," he confirmed. Then he seemed to take notice of Aang's tattoos. "An airbender! You must be the Avatar!" he added with a grin.

"That's me," Aang nodded.

"You need to talk to Major Jee right away," the mayor said gravely. "The town urgently needs your help."

* * *

Major Jee was an older man, with gray hair and a mustache. He was the leader of the garrison based in Gaipan.

"I was kinda hoping I'd get to meet you," he remarked when he first saw Aang, walking the group to sit at a table where teacups had been set out. "The kid that I and my crew committed treason to help save the world for." At this, he smiled.

"What do you mean?" Katara asked.

"Oh, it's an interesting story. But it's one for another time. I need your help right now. There's a group out in the forest who call themselves the Freedom Fighters. They're a nasty bunch. They've basically been waging a guerilla war against us since we arrived, despite the fact that we haven't done anything to enforce our will on the town. They're a bunch of thugs," Jee explained. "They set up traps to ensnare soldiers in nets, they steal our food, that kinda stuff. But recently, one of our informants told us that Jet, their leader, has bigger plans." His expression became grim. "Jet wants to fill up the reservoir and then blow up the dam, flooding Gaipan."

The travelers were horrified by this information.

"But they can't do that! The townspeople and the soldiers would both be killed!" Katara pointed out.

Jee nodded. "Jet doesn't care. We've tried to send messages to him, to tell him that we're not invaders like Ozai's soldiers are, that we were invited here and we have not made any aggressive moves towards the townsfolk. But he's insane. He's absolutely consumed by his hatred of all things Fire Nation, and refuses to listen to reason."

"So what can we do to stop it?" Toph asked.

"You will have to get into their camp and take Jet and the others hostage. Incapacitate them and bring them here. They need to stand trial for their actions."

Aang nodded. "We'll do it."

"Good luck, Avatar. You'll need it," Jee replied.

* * *

It was actually quite easy to get into the Freedom Fighters' camp. They just walked into the forest and kept going for a bit, and were then ambushed by the Freedom Fighters and taken to their camp.

"So, you're the Avatar, huh?" one of them asked. He was a boy with brown hair, who carried hookswords around, and who was constantly chewing on a stalk of wheat in his mouth. "I'm Jet."

"Then you're who we need to talk to," Aang replied. "We know about your plan to blow the dam. You're not acting rationally. Those aren't Ozai's soldiers in Gaipan. They're Iroh's. They want to end the war. They're only there because the town asked them to be there to protect them from Ozai's forces."

Jet scoffed. "What makes you think Iroh's any different from Ozai? They're all the same. The Fire Nation killed my parents."

The group looked at Jet in horror. "We've met Iroh," Toph informed him. "He's nothing like that."

Jet looked at them in disbelief. "You've been fraternizing with the enemy? You've been having casual conversations with the Fire Lord's brother?!"

"Iroh isn't the enemy," Sokka corrected.

"I can't believe this. I thought you, of all people, would take my side! The Fire Nation wiped out the Air Nomads and almost completely annihilated the Southern Water Tribe as well!"

"But that _wasn_ 't Iroh. That was his father and grandfather," Aang retorted.

"You're wrong. They're all the same," Jet snarled.

And then he tried to _attack_ them.

It didn't work, obviously. Jet had made the mistake of trying to attack them while they were standing near a river, and Katara used its waters to encase Jet in ice from the neck down. Several of the other Freedom Fighters rushed to try to help Jet, but were likewise encased in ice. The only two who didn't attempt to attack them were a tomboy with brown hair and the archer who had black hair and wore a conical hat and never spoke.

"What are you doing, Smellerbee, Longshot? Help me!" Jet shouted, his eyes crossing between the two.

The tomboy shook her head. "No, Jet. This plan was too far. You never told us that these were Iroh's forces. You never told us the townsfolk _invited them_. You were all too willing to kill people who hadn't done anything wrong, just because they happened to wear the same uniform as the monsters who killed your parents, who killed the families of so many people here. You never told us that the soldiers we were attacking were ones who stood in opposition to the ones who made our lives so horrible."

Jet had a look of disbelief on his face. "Smellerbee, it doesn't matter which Fire Nation scum they serve! They're all the same! The Fire Nation turned you from a daughter of nobility into an orphan girl living in the woods! Longshot, surely you don't agree with her?"

The archer, Longshot, shook his head as well. "I'm with Smellerbee on this one. You were going to kill countless innocents, and you _lied_ to us about it. You withheld information about the Fire Nation soldiers that were in Gaipan, and led us to believe they were of the same nature as the soldiers who made us all orphans. You're a monster."

"We need to take him and the others who still support him back to Gaipan," Aang interrupted. "Major Jee wants them to stand trial for their crimes."

* * *

Several hours later, Jet and his supporters were the occupants of several cells in Gaipan's prison.

"Thank you for your help, Avatar," Major Jee smiled. "Jet will be tried for his crimes. Gaipan's justice system is one of the fairest in the Earth Kingdom."

"It was no problem," Aang smiled. "We have to get going now. I need to get to the North Pole and learn waterbending."

Major Jee nodded understandingly. "Good luck."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. There is a LOT that happens in this chapter. I decided to go about Jet completely differently, by having it be that the soldiers he was targeting were Iroh's soldiers and they weren't actually doing anything wrong. I also decided to give Jee a cameo. Notably, Gaipan isn't destroyed in this AU, and Jet is actually taken into custody rather than just being left frozen to a tree. To be clear: it is absolutely the case in this AU that Ozai's military is pretty consistently evil and that what happened to the Freedom Fighters' parents is the norm for them. The point is that Iroh's military ISN'T Ozai's military.


	12. The Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aang deals with his guilt over running away from the Southern Air Temple a hundred years ago, as a fierce storm rages.

Aang woke up with a scream.

He'd had another nightmare about leaving the Air Nomads, and also about abandoning Katara, Sokka, and Toph.

Sokka sprung to his feet, still drowsy, holding his club and boomerang. "What's going on? Did we get captured again?"

Aang shook his head. "It's nothing. I just had a bad dream. Go back to sleep." With that, he curled up under his blanket again.

Sokka curled back up under his blanket as well. "Don't have to tell me twice."

Katara looked over at Aang, who was facing the opposite direction to her still. "Are you all right, Aang?"

"I'm okay," Aang replied, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"You seem to be having a lot of nightmares lately. You want to tell me about it?"

"I think I just need some rest."

* * *

Day came, and they began loading their supplies onto Appa.

"Look at those clear skies, buddy!" Aang exclaimed, patting Appa's head. "Should be some smooth flying."

Katara looked up from the bag she was loading. "Well, we better _smoothly_ fly ourselves to a market, because we're out of food."

Sokka stopped in his tracks, and got a serious expression on his face. "Guys, wait. This was in my dream. We shouldn't go to the market."

Katara and Aang looked at Sokka in confusion. "What happened in your dream?" Katara asked.

Sokka's expression became one of fear. "Food eats people! Also, Momo could talk." He turned to look at Momo, who was perched on a bag of supplies. "You said some very unkind things."

Momo seemed to take offense at this accusation.

"Remind me never to let him near cactus juice," Toph groaned.

* * *

At the market, Toph found herself having to save Katara from being swindled into buying low-quality watermelons.

"No, Katara, swishing does not mean the watermelon is ripe," she groaned, pulling the older girl away from the watermelon vendor.

The travelers' walk down the pier was interrupted by a bickering older couple, a fisherman and his wife.

"We shouldn't go out there! Please! The fish can wait. There's going to be a terrible storm," the woman pleaded.

"You're crazy. It's a nice day," the fishermen scoffed, gesturing to the sky. "No clouds, no winds, no nothing. So quit your nagging, woman."

"Maybe we should find some shelter?" Aang suggested to Sokka, Katara, and Toph.

Sokka looked at him in puzzlement. "Are you kidding me? Shelter from _what_?"

"My joints say there's going to be a storm! A bad one," the fisherman's wife continued.

Her husband scowled at her. "Well, it's your joints against my brain."

"Then I hope your brain can find someone else to haul that fish, because I ain't coming."

The woman stormed off.

* * *

The fisherman's wife proved to be correct about the weather. Storm clouds began to gather on the horizon, the sky darkening, as the fisherman prepared to set sail by himself.

"Sir, I don't think this is such a good idea," Aang said to the fisherman.

"The boy with the tattoos has some sense," the fisherman's wife agreed. "You should listen to him!"

"Boy with tattoos?" The fisherman turned around to face them. "Airbender tattoos. Well, I'll be a hog monkey's uncle! You're the Avatar, ain't ya?"

"That's right," Aang smiled.

"Well, don't be so smiley about it," the man replied angrily. "The Avatar disappeared for a hundred years! You turned your back on the world!"

Katara looked offended at this accusation. "Don't yell at him! Aang would never turn his back on anyone."

"Oh, he wouldn't, huh? Then I guess I just have imagined the last hundred years of war and suffering."

"Aang is the bravest person I know. He's done nothing but help people and save lives since I met him. It's not his fault he disappeared, right, Aang?" Katara turned to look towards Aang as she asked this, only to see him backing away from them. "Aang, what's wrong?"

Aang had a guilty expression on his face. He opened his glider and flew off.

"That's right! Keep flying!" the fisherman shouted.

Katara turned to glare daggers at the fisherman. "You're a horrible old man!" She turned around and hopped on Appa, who was floating in the water nearby. Sokka and Toph quickly joined her on the bison, and they flew off to look for Aang.

* * *

They found him hiding in a cave. The storm had arrived during their search. The rain was heavy, and the travelers were rather relieved to take shelter somewhere where they weren't getting soaked.

Aang recounted the story of how he became frozen in the iceberg. He told them about how he was told he was the Avatar four years before he was supposed to know, how the fact that he was the Avatar took away much of the fun in his life at the Southern Air Temple, how no one wanted to play with him lest the team without Aang possibly being at an unfair disadvantage. He told them about how Monk Gyatso was the only one of the Monks who seemed to recognize that he was still just a kid. He told them about how he overheard that they were going to send him to the Eastern Air Temple, in order to train him separately from Gyatso. And he told them about how he responded to this - by running away in the middle of the night, and getting trapped in a storm and triggering the Avatar State to protect himself and Appa by encasing the two of them in a ball of ice.

By the time he finished, he was holding back tears.

"You ran away," Katara realized.

"And then the Fire Nation attacked our temple. My people needed me and I wasn't there to help," Aang sniffled.

Toph rested her hand on Aang's shoulder, an unexpected gesture from her. "You can't beat yourself up over it, Twinkletoes. What's done is done."

"The fisherman was right. I did turn my back on the world," Aang said.

"You're being too hard on yourself, even if you did run away," Katara reassured him. "I think it was meant to be. If you had stayed, you would have been killed along with all the other airbenders."

Aang shook his head. "You don't know that."

"I know it was meant to be this way. The world needs you now. You give people hope," Katara replied.

Aang seemed to relax at this.

The calm was short-lived, as shortly afterwards, the fisherman's wife rushed into the cave.

"My husband didn't come back! He's still out there! The storm has become a typhoon!" she shouted frantically.

"We'll go help him," Aang offered.

"I'm staying here," the woman declared, sitting by the campfire.

* * *

They found the fisherman just in time. They pulled him atop Appa and returned to the cave.

The fisherman's wife ran to her husband and embraced him. "Oh, you're alive! You owe this boy an apology!" She withdrew from the hug and glared at her husband.

"He doesn't have to apologize," Aang said.

The fisherman paused, thinking to himself. "What if, instead of an apology, I give him a free fish and we call it even?"

Aang shook his head. "Actually, I don't eat meat."

The man frowned. "Fish ain't meat!"

"I'll take the fish," Sokka suggested. The old man obliged, plopping a fish into Sokka's hands.

Aang turned to look at Katara. "Katara, I think you were right before. I'm done dwelling on the past."

Katara seemed a bit surprised by this. "Really?"

"I can't make guesses about what would have happened if I hadn't run away. I'm here now, and I'm going to make the most of it. That's what matters most."

"I don't think you're gonna have those nightmares anymore," Katara smiled.

"And if you weren't here now, well, I guess I wouldn't be either," the fisherman admitted reluctantly. "Thank you for saving my life, Avatar."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are a few changes from canon.
> 
> 1\. Since Toph is with them, and has plenty of money on hand, Sokka doesn't get a job working with the fisherman in order to earn money. This means that the fisherman goes out there alone.
> 
> 2\. Since Zuko's crew are mostly at the North Pole, Jee is in Gaipan, and Zuko himself is currently tracking the Gaang in the hopes of returning Katara's necklace, he's not in this chapter.
> 
> Next chapter will be The Blue Spirit.


	13. The Blue Spirit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aang's search for frozen frogs to help Sokka, Katara, and Toph is put on hold when he is captured by Zhao, and he is rescued from the recently promoted Admiral by an old friend.

The venture into the storm had not had favorable results for Sokka or Toph.

The two were sick, confined to their sleeping bags, and had begun hallucinating.

Katara was tending to her brother, having placed a damp rag on his forehead. "This should bring your fever down."

"You know what I love about Appa the most?" Sokka asked. "His sense of humor."

"That's nice. I'll tell him."

Appa let out a growl at this.

Sokka chuckled. "Classic Appa."

The sickness had had a rather...different effect on Toph. She had spent much of the morning confessing rather...unusual and embarrassing secrets to someone who was imaginary.

"I couldn't find any ginger root for the tea," Aang said as he walked over to them. "But I found a map. There's an herbalist institute on top of that mountain. We could probably find a cure for Sokka and Toph there."

Katara shook her head. "Aang, they're in no condition to travel. Sokka and Toph just need more rest. I'm sure he'll be better by tomorrow."

"I'm going to find some medicine," Aang declared, grabbing his glider. But a lightning strike in the distance prompted a change of plans. He set the glider back down. "Uh, maybe it's safer if I go on foot."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Katara offered.

Aang shook his head. "No. Someone needs to stay with Sokka and Toph."

* * *

Aang quickly arrived at the herbalist, rushing in to find an old woman and her cat.

"Hello, I'm sorry to barge in like this, but I need some medicine for my friends, they have fevers and they were coughing-," he said quickly.

"Settle down, young man," the herbalist interrupted. "Your friends are going to be just fine. I've been up here for over forty years, you know. There used to be others, but they all left years ago." She petted the cat. "Now it's just me and Miyuki." Miyuki let out an affectionate purr.

"That's nice," Aang replied impatiently.

"Wounded Earth Kingdom troops still come by now and again. Brave boys. Thanks to my remedies, they always leave in better shape than when they arrive."

"That's nice. Are you almost done?" Aang was really getting impatient now.

"Hold on, I just need to find one last ingredient." The herbalist looked at the various shrubbery, muttering to herself. "Oh, sandalwood...oh, er, uh, that won't do...banana leaf? Ah, nope...ginger root, uhh...uhh...oh, where is that pesky plant?"

Aang let out an exasperated sigh.

The herbalist finally found what she was looking for. "Ah! Plum blossom!" she exclaimed, removing a flower from a tree.

"Finally!" Aang said. Once the woman finished mixing the ingredients in a bowl, he attempted to grab the bowl. "Thanks for your help!"

The herbalist smacked his hand with a spoon. "Hands off! What do you think you're doing?"

Aang frowned, rubbing his hand. "Taking the cure to my friends."

The old woman looked at him in puzzlement, then laughed. "This isn't a cure! It's Miyuki's dinner!" With that, she set the bowl on the floor, and Miyuki began eating from it happily. "Plum blossom is her favorite."

"What about my friends?"

"Well, all they need are some frozen wood frogs. There's plenty down in the valley swamp."

Aang stared at her in confusion. "What am I supposed to do with frozen frogs?"

"Why, suck on them, of course!"

Aang looked horrified. "Suck on them?!"

The herbalist nodded. "Frozen wood frogs have medicinal properties. However, once they thaw out, they become useless. Make sure you get plenty of them."

Aang looked at her skeptically, then shrugged. "Whatever you say."

The herbalist noticed his look. "Hey, I know what I'm doing. I've been an herbalist for decades."

* * *

Aang's search for frozen wood frogs resulted in him being captured and taken to a Fire Nation stronghold.

The door to his cell opened, and the man he least wanted to see walked in.

"Commander Zhao," Aang groaned.

"Actually, it's _Admiral_ Zhao now," the officer corrected. "How does it feel to be the only airbender left? You're the last of your people. Unfortunately for you, you won't be killed like they were." Zhao had a smug grin on his face. "If we killed you, you would just reincarnate, and we'd have to scour the Water Tribes to find your successor."

Aang blew a massive gust of wind at Zhao, knocking him back.

"Ah, I see you've got some fight in you still. No matter. No one is coming to save you. You're going back to the Fire Nation, and I will get the glory of capturing the Avatar," Zhao smirked.

* * *

_He's been following us since Kyoshi Island. Will he ever leave us alone?_ Aang thought. But he already knew that the answer was no.

And then someone came through the door. A man wearing a blue spirit mask, like in one of those theater plays that Kuzon's parents loved but Aang and Kuzon always found boring.

The man was wielding dao blades. He used them to cut Aang's chains, and Aang fell to the floor.

"Who are you?" Aang asked.

The man did not respond, instead opting to shoulder the dao blades and gesture toward the door.

"Lead the way," Aang said.

They made their way through the fortress, arriving in the courtyard, where they were caught by the guards.

They reached the edge of the courtyard after some...evasive maneuvering, and found themselves with a lot of archers aiming at them.

The Blue Spirit drew the two dao and held them at Aang's throat.

Aang tensed.

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you," a familiar voice whispered. Then Aang's eyes widened.

" _Lee_?" he whispered back.

"That's not my real name, but yes. Just act like you're my prisoner."

Aang put on a very convincing performance.

They were almost in the clear, when Zhao gave the order.

An arrow pierced Lee's shoulder. Lee fell to the ground.

Aang picked Lee up, slung him over his shoulder, and _ran_.

Once he felt there was enough distance between them and the fortress, he stopped and set Lee down.

He pulled the mask off.

The person who rescued him was a boy who couldn't be much older than sixteen. A burn scar surrounds his left eye. He had dark hair. Aang gasped in realization. "You're Prince Zuko, aren't you?"

Lee nodded.

"It's so good to finally meet you!" Aang exclaimed. "We met your uncle a few weeks ago, he was looking for you!" Then he frowned. "How did you find me?"

Zuko pushed himself upright with a groan. "I was...tracking you."

Aang looked at him in confusion. "Why?"

Zuko reached into his shirt and retrieved a shiny object. Aang was taken aback once it set in that the object was Katara's necklace.

"Why do you have that?" Aang asked.

"Katara dropped it on the prison rig. I've been trying to track you guys down so I could return it."

Aang grinned. Then he jumped to his feet. "Please come travel with us to the North Pole! I need a firebending teacher!" he said excitedly.

* * *

After a detour to retrieve fresh frozen frogs, Aang and Zuko arrived back at the camp where Katara, Sokka, and Toph were waiting.

Aang quickly walked over and placed frozen frogs in Sokka and Toph's mouths.

"And who is this?" Katara asked Aang, gesturing to Zuko.

Zuko waved. "I'm Zuko. Although, you already know me as Lee the prison guard."

Katara looked at him in disbelief. "As in, Prince Zuko? The guy who's a legend throughout the Earth Kingdom?"

Zuko rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "...Yeah."

And then he collapsed.

Katara noticed the arrow stuck in his shoulder.

"Aang," she said. "What did you _do_ while you were gone?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, uhh, this chapter went kinda differently from canon?
> 
> I've...kinda got the entire Gaang together before the Winter Solstice even happened (that's next chapter).
> 
> An earlier draft of this chapter actually transcribed part of Toph's feverish ramblings, which amounted to her revealing her crush on Sokka to everyone.
> 
> Also, Katara is spared from being sick and having to suck on a frozen frog.


	14. Interlude: The Newcomer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko fumbles introductions to Sokka and Toph.

"So, you're Prince Zuko," Sokka stated.

"Yes," the prince confirmed.

"And you're joining our team to teach Aang firebending?"

"I guess?"

* * *

"So, you're the new guy," Toph remarked to Zuko.

"...Yes?" Zuko answered awkwardly.

"I heard you broke Twinkletoes out of a Fire Nation military fortress."

Zuko sputtered at the nickname. " _Twinkletoes_?"

Toph grinned. "Yep, that's what I call him."

"To answer your question, yes, I did free from the Avatar from Pohuai Stronghold."

Toph's smile grew bigger. "By yourself?"

"Yes."

Toph was now grinning from ear to ear. "I think we'll get along just fine, Sparky."

"I hope so." Then he paused. " _Sparky_?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is basically just filler, honestly. I initially was gonna have this be at the start of the first Winter Solstice chapter, but I opted to make it a short interlude instead.


End file.
